Thursday, November 21, 2013

My Little Caroline-How are you two months old already? Time is flying by way too fast! I am trying to soak up our time together because I am going back to work soon and you will never be like this again!

You are 10 lbs 12 oz and 23.5 inches long! You are in the 38th percentile for weight and 78th percentile for length!

You also got your first round of immunizations-1 shot for DTAP and the oral medicine for Rotavirus. Your next shots will be in a month!

You LOVE bath time!

You started sitting in your seat Grandpa Murphy gave you!

You hung out with Uncle Pat and loved your newest sleeper!

You are a pretty cute Chiefs can!

Rooting the Chiefs on with Dad!

You started noticing your jungle friends on your activity mat!

You got your first turtle friend and LOVED it!

Your future BFF Brielle gave you slippers that keep your toesies warm! You wear them a lot!

You started smiling...A LOT!

You also learned to stick your tongue out. You do this a lot too!

You also slept...like most babies do!

And this is our favorite sleeping spot!

Mommy packed away her maternity clothes for at least a couple years!

Sometimes mommy and daddy let you snuggle in bed with them!

And, of course, you were just cute!

You love your swing!

You continued being cute!

You rooted for the Packers and had crazy hair!

Challenges:

Cloth diapering. This really isn't a challenge but more of an annoyance. We are so ready to cloth diaper but your little legs were still so skinny for the first couple months that the diapers wouldn't get tight enough around them!

I have noticed a decline in my milk production. I think it is because she is sleeping more through the night so I am essentially skipping that feeding.

We started sending you to daycare part-time at the end of your second month. This was more of a challenge for me than it was for you.

Traveling! You travel well in the car and we stop every two hours to feed you if we are going long distances. But, traveling completely throws your routine off and it is just hard being in a different place when it comes to having you sleep, nurse, etc. But, not a lot of people can say they have been to four states in their first two months!

Successes:

Cloth diapering! Around 7 weeks, we were finally able to get you to wear them without being too big! Woohoo! We are still trying to get the hang of the routine of it all though.

You have started to sit in your bebePOD by Prince Lionhart. The other popular choice is the Bumbo seat. We chose the bebePOD because it comes with a tray, straps on to chairs, and has a toy that can attach to the tray.

What I couldn't live without:

Desitin-You were getting quite the diaper rash between 5-6 weeks. We had a huge tube of Boudreaux's Butt Paste but you would scream bloody murder as soon as that touched your skin. Luckily we had some samples of Desitin which cleared it right up and you didn't seem to mind it as much!

Your swing! You finally started liking it around 5 weeks! You love the little froggys that hang from it and are perfectly content in it for a good 20 minutes at a time!

Your Snuza! I am a worrier to begin with and would wake up about every hour throughout the night to make sure you were still breathing and alright. We finally decided to invest in the Snuza to make sure we were woken up if something was wrong and to give me some peace of mind. We will be sending this to your daycare as well which will help!

Gripe Water has been a life saver. There are times we know you have some gas that won't come out and giving you this before you eat really helps get your gas out and you are much more comfortable!

What makes You, You!

You are SOOO happy in the morning and after your naps!

You really like doing Tummy Time!

You have started "talking" and cooing more

You love your penguin pal! You love when it squeeks, and "kisses" you. You also just love to stare at it!

Sunday, November 17, 2013

This is a short post, but I stumbled upon the Wonder Weeks book when Caroline was about five weeks. She had become really fussy in the evenings, very clingy, fought sleep (still does some) really bad, and her overall demeanor was just not happy. So, like any mid-twenty year old, I Googled it and stumbled upon this book. I actually haven't read the book but downloaded the app.

It basically explains that there are certain weeks that babies go through developmental changes. These are called "stormy" weeks and she was going through one at five weeks. And then, almost overnight, she was a completely different baby. She started enjoying being in her swing more, using her activity mat more. She was smiling more and was really recognizing faces more.

She follows what the book has outlined to a "T" so far. She went through another stormy week at week 7 and the changes we see in her now are "talking," smiling back when we smile at her, she leans forward when sitting up (early sign of grabbing at something), and batting at objects.

I would recommend the book or the app for any new mom! It reassured me that her stormy, or fussy weeks, are just temporary and when she gets through them, she is a much happier baby!